Attendance & Engagement Part 1: case studies

A panel of colleagues across undergraduate, postgraduate, large-, medium- and small enrolment classes will start off the conversation with their thoughts and experiences addressing the issues of class attendance and engagement. This will be followed by an open floor discussion, finishing with a special demonstration by Dr. Tanisha Jowsey.

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Panel

Teri Ko teri.ko@auckland.ac.nz - TKHM, Foundation programme
Dennis Hsu d.hsu@auckland.ac.nz - SOPH, POPLHLTH 111, ~1100 students
Rhiannon Lloyd rhiannon.lloyd@auckland.ac.nz - Business (Management) Y1 ~1600, Y2, Y3, PG, MBA
Tanisha Jowsey t.jowsey@auckland.ac.nz - CMHSE (~20 PG), interprofessional simulation programme (~100)
Fuafiva Fa'alau f.faalau@auckland.ac.nz - Pacific Health, SOPH, Y2 POPLHLTH core course (~200)

Fuafiva

Students have very diverse needs
Some of us are 'old school' - a lot of independent learning, "I want to go there because I don't want to miss out"
Responsibilities:
(then) priorities were quite high; support network present; cheaper living costs; student allowance;
(now) attendance quite low across the board
Physical attendance & mental attendance
- As lecturers & tutors, mentors, want students to be both physically and mentally there
- Some students are physically there but watching basketball while you're talking
- Not mentally there because they haven't fulfilled their obligations to their families before they come. Pacifika students especially. Feel guilty if those tasks were not completed.
  - Engagement / participation will not be there.

Tanisha

Teaching philosophy = to have fun
If people are feeling valued in the space = more likely to have fun
Teach some tough topics (e.g. dealing with death)
Fun = physical & mental engagement
Two sides of the same coin
- Acknowledge that people have other things going on, coping with
- Create a space where people are happy to prioritise

Rhiannon

Challenge in Stage 2
- Gamification
- Lego "Serious Play" facilitator
- Student feedback - want interaction, discussion, dialogue
  - 1st half of class = lecture model
  - 2nd half = everyone left
- "Can you just talk at us? Too much pressure to interact"
- Realised that splitting the class into two halves = wrong approach
  - "isn't necessary"; add-on
    - Tanisha: Medical humanities course, funky music in background, "know the song? Know the history about it?"
- Year 2 = transitioning from Year 1
- Lecture --> something completely different
  - Aim = integrate various ways to interact - not necessarily with me.

Dennis

Setting expectations
- Students expect us to "teach"
- Attendance in first 5 weeks = no problem
- After 1st assessment - attendance drops off a cliff
  - Lecture attendance is affected by "test week"
  - Overflow lecture theatre no longer required
- Recording
  - 60-70%
Value of lecture - if students know they will get something from your lecture, they will come.
Try to not do too much interaction with students - eat into lecture time

Teri

Not a fan of 'telling' students that they have to come to class
No difference between watching recording VS attending in person
Fan of lecture recordings, but also a fan of interactivity
- If I'm doing stuff that can't be captured on lecture recordings - how do they catch up on this?

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Emma spoke to slides - collation of thoughts and perspectives from colleagues who couldn't attend today in person:

2019-08-27 Attendance & Engagement Part 1.pptx

"What changes have you observed in student attendance and engagement over the past few years?"

"What are your thoughts on the role of lecture attendance, and how has this influenced your approach to teaching/engagement during class?"

"What have been the highlights: things you have tried that worked well?"

"What have been the learnings: things you tried but which didn't work so well?"

"What tips/lessons would you like to share with us?"

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Open discussion

Where are we going in the future? Are lectures redundant?
- Flipped classroom?
- Dependent on student cohort?
- Do we need to think about different forms / modalities of teaching?
  - TJ: PG classes for clinicians - physical attendance = almost impossible
    - Conversation sessions
    - Mix up times, accommodate
  - RL: Depends on the learning outcomes of your course
    - Disciplinary knowledge?
      - Possible to broadcast the material
    - Social elements (e.g. communication, team work)
      - Adding value to class to bring people into the social environment
      - TBL = 2 hours, 8am-6pm Mon-Fri, team-taught
        
        Work beforehand, mini-lecture, activities, assessment, HUGE assessment load
        
        Heavily resourced programme
        
        Teaching team of 15, meet every Monday
        
        Appropriate / dedicated room - expensive room to set up
Lecture = didactic, supplemented by laboratories
- Are we redesigning something that has always worked? Are we just reinventing the wheel, calling these different names?
- ES: Teaching context is important
  - Reconception of what Teaching and Learning @ tertiary means
  - Technologies - offerings & impositions

FF

Lots of comments about wanting lectures to be interactive
- Interactive exercises were introduced - students didn't participate
- There was no sense that the students engaged with the concept
Diversity

DH

Value?
Are lecturers prepared? Or can students just learn from the textbook
How do we make students think attending / 1 hour of their time is worthwhile?
For a student who is prepared - they will be fine no matter what you do
For a student who is NOT prepared - they will not do it!
RL:
- Assessment - for workshop prep as well as end-of-workshop
- Indication of over-assessment
  - "Teachers ID what is important by putting an assessment on that thing"
- Need to think of other ways to add value (other than marks)

ES

Students who are not able to come to class are further dis-incentivised to come
- I haven't been able to come
- I'm going to be exposed for not being prepared

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John Werry

Audited Year 1 courses
- Courses are a lot better than when he was a student
  - Recorded - at leisure can listen to them
  - Slides are on Canvas
  - 50% attending
- Subject effect
  - Psychiatry VS Biochemistry
    - Presenting facts
- Lecturers go to extraordinary lengths to "entertain" the students
  - Human, engaging
  - Awful lot of effort
- Love sit and talk to students
  - Being retired = social engagement
  - [?] how many students go for social reasons?
- Social science / behavioural science
  - Compliance
  - Would be nice to have some hard science
- TJ: Qualitative evidence of lived experiences!

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Ways to get students to know each other / social learning = reinforces value of the experience of attending

Languages
Get into groups of 3-4
30-40 seconds each person
Speak in own native / first language.
Introduce (a) own name and (b) why you love teaching and learning

- Fun; diverse; interested in what was said (although did not understand);
- Awareness of how English is privileged
- Helps students to feel valued - that they bring something to the table
Names
6 volunteers (normally would get everyone in the class to do this activity)
Speak first name a few times, go around in circle
Person A to call out person B's name and walk towards them; Person B must call out person C's name before person A gets to them.
Variation 1: Cannot call out the name of the person next to you
Variation 2: Instead of choosing whose name you call out, another person will make eye contact with you and expect you to call out their name

- panicky but fun; students get to know at least some other students' names
- "the bugger dance"

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Teri really wanted to share this quote but didn't have the opportunity to during the session:

“The real challenge is not covering the material for students but uncovering the material with students”.

Smith, K., Sheppard, S., Johnson, D., & Johnson, R. (2005). Pedagogies of engagement: classroom-based practices. Journal of Engineering, 94(1), 1-15.